politics

North Korea fires suspected ballistic missile into sea

51 Comments
By HYUNG-JIN KIM

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51 Comments
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Yawn. Like a child seeking attention. Wonder what Kryptkeeper Barbie will say?

4 ( +15 / -11 )

@Desert Tortoise

Yawn. Like a child seeking attention. 

The US doesn't care as long as it has enough ranges for Tokyo but not Guam or US mainland.

-17 ( +10 / -27 )

Little Rocket Man at it again. Unbelievable.

NK should stop threatening Japan. There is little doubt QUAD would level that little nation if any of these missiles were to make it to Japan.

4 ( +16 / -12 )

Tsk, tsk. Bullies will be bullies.

They must be jealous of all the attention the thugs in Afghanistan are getting right now in the international press.

Shall we await KCMA's forthcoming announcement that select parts of the world are forcing them to do all of this?

How tiresome.

1 ( +11 / -10 )

By the way . . .

North Korea's fragile economy has suffered a huge recent setback because of a combination of the coronavirus pandemic, the sanctions and natural disasters.

And no mention anywhere in the article over the awesomely pathetic reality that is the DPRK's centralized command economy? The bizarre decision to prioritize their GDP to a defense-based economy, over any measurable growth in development, food production, and living standards?

Epic failure!

12 ( +20 / -8 )

@Fighto!

There is little doubt QUAD would level that little nation if any of these missiles were to make it to Japan.

I am not sure you understand what QUAD is; this is an informal gathering like G20, not a military alliance.

Should an NK missile drop on Japan, the only party that would care is the US while all that India and Australia will do is well wishes for Tokyo and call for a peace and calm. Even the US will take measured action with a couple of missile strikes on North Korean farmland, not go to war over it.

-10 ( +7 / -17 )

North Korea strikes another blow in its never ending war with the sea.

10 ( +17 / -7 )

I am not sure you understand what QUAD is; this is an informal gathering like G20, not a military alliance.

It is a military alliance, as well as a diplomatic one. QUAD conducts military exercises in the region. QUAD is to Asia what NATO is to Europe, and will become stronger than NATO as more nations join.

The threatening and warlike behaviour of China and NK will not continue without consequence.

7 ( +16 / -9 )

@Fighto!

It is a military alliance

So do you know what this means?

1) The next time India battles Chinese troops in the Himalayas, JGSDF must join the fight and battle the Chinese in the Himalayas.

2) The next time Australia has a showdown with PLAN in the South China Sea, JMSDF must join the naval confrontation.

Is it even constitutional for JGSDF troops to beat PLA troops with clubs in the Himalayas?

Of course QUAD is not a military alliance, it's just an informal gathering, nothing more.

-6 ( +8 / -14 )

"PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!! WAAAA!!!!!"

7 ( +15 / -8 )

The possible outbreak of a new war on the Korean Peninsula is contained not because of the U.S.'s mercy on the DPRK, it is because our state is growing a reliable deterrent that can control the hostile forces in an attempted military invasion,

He's not wrong honestly, that has been pretty much the line given by every world power building military strength, and for good reason. If they didn't have any kind of deterrent, troops would have marched in there ages ago. These deterrents (and their lack of oil) are about the only things keeping them going.

Kim Jong Un has maintained a moratorium on testing longer-range weapons capable of reaching the American homeland, an indication he wants to keep the chances for future diplomacy with the U.S. alive.

This is the part I am not sold on, America has shown very little willingness to engage in diplomacy with any nation that is the slightest threat to the capitalist establishment, rather seeing fit to try to starve them and their people out. It has pretty much been their modus operandi, to varying degrees of success. Outside of certain extraordinary cases, I really don't expect to see any genuine diplomatic overtures.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

It’s like hanabi for the North Koreans.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

USA is trying to convince north Korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal and offer them assistance.

Hmm...

Meanwhile the USA has nuclear arsenal pointing at north Korea from south Korea and Japan and Alaska.

Last time missile's were launched near Japan - Japan announced they didn't land in Japanese waters , but after a closer inspection they said the missiles did land in Japanese waters.

If a nation with a military like Japan can't positively identify where the missile landed or track it effectively then how can the Japanese military protect itself or its citizens.

Seems awefuly pathetic to me.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Throwing own starving people’s daily dishes away into the sea multiple times has surely something of an IQ even below of one that amoebas might have. Applause….not.

6 ( +12 / -6 )

Korean news outlets say that "North Korea has long accused South Korea and the United States of double standards, claiming it makes no sense for them to denounce the North's missile launches and other weapons tests as banned "provocations" when they are free to conduct such tests."

Kim Jong Un does not seem to like and get along with Biden and vice versa. Like him or not Trump was on much better terms with Kim Jong Un and was making progress with N. Korea.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

@Kyo wa heiwa dayo ne

Japan announced they didn't land in Japanese waters , but after a closer inspection they said the missiles did land in Japanese waters.

Japanese territorial water is 22 km from coastline. You can literally see it dropping into sea if it fell into Japan's territorial water.

Japanese are confusing EEZ with territorial water; EEZ is an international water, and the actual EEZ of Japan is far smaller than what Japan claims because of the Liancourt Rocks belonging to Korea and the actual EEZ line is half-way between the Liancourt Rocks and Honshu.

And no, North Korea doesn't recognize Japanese claimed EEZ line, they only accept the half-way line between the Liancourt Rocks and Honshu, 134th meridian east

-8 ( +6 / -14 )

The US doesn't care as long as it has enough ranges for Tokyo but not Guam or US mainland.

That is an uninformed comment. Aside from a commitment to defend Japan from attack, the US military and especially the Navy have a lot more of everything in Japan than they do in Guam and thus a lot more to lose from an attack on Japan.

9 ( +13 / -4 )

I don’t understand the wording of this statement. They assume a missile of the ballistic type was fire. Or a missive was fire and they suspect it was a ballistic type. Really bad English. I know my comments are hard to read but I am not getting a wage.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Skeptica

"Tsk, tsk. Bullies will be bullies."

Does that also apply to the US, which carried out missile tests a week or two ago?

0 ( +8 / -8 )

DPRK has nuclear weapons because they don't trust Russia or China to come to their aid in a war. They saw the Soviets abandon Vietnam when China invaded in 1979 notwithstanding the mutual defense pact they had that the Soviets abandoned. Kim Il-Sung learned to distrust China when he asked Mao to make removing US forces from Korea a pre-condition for China establishing diplomatic relations with the US. Kim Il-Sung detested Mao for that. DPRK sees their nuclear weapons as a hedge against being abandoned by Russia and China.

For the US, the great inhibitor against retaliating against North Korea or attempting to destroy their nuclear arsenal isn't actually that nuclear arsenal. That could be taken out fairly quickly. The deterrent is the fact that half of the South Korean population lives within artillery range of North Korea. Casualty estimates for the first day of a Second Korean War start at 100,000 killed per hour. Not 100,000 killed the first day, but 100,000 dead per hour of the first day of war. It is that sobering little detail that prevents the US and South Korea from taking action against DPRK. Oh, and the threat that China might intervene like the first time around keeps everyone's gunpowder dry.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Why does North Korea keep launching missiles one after another? To attract the attention once again of the outside world? Are they frustrated that too much attention is being paid to Afghanistan and the Into-Pacific, making short shrift of them? If that's the case, what’s the fuss about it all?

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kept saying regularly that North Korea was a dangerous country. Did he mouth these words with something in mind?

One must know that North Korea’s test-firings of missiles can make it a good justification for Japan to go to more arms buildup however unconstitutional it may be.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

@voiceofokinawa

Why does North Korea keep launching missiles one after another? 

1) The US doesn't care as long as the missiles don't have the range to reach US territories. Short-range NK missiles have tacit US approval, at least the US willing to look the other way.

2) More test means more data collection and improvements on missiles themselves.

3) ROK launches more ballistic missiles per year than North Korea does, but this is never reported by press. North Korea's merely trying to keep up with the ROK's ballistic missiles, which are described as the most accurate in the world with CEP of 3 m for 400 km range missiles.

-8 ( +6 / -14 )

It will be interesting to watch to see the extent of NorK's public relations efforts over this latest splashdown. Think they can move public opinion polls in the South or Japan this time?

Just keep an eye on social media for the next 48 hour and see if their regiment of heavily-guarded and caffeine-soaked social media "influencers" can parrot the Party line in time to have any meaning to anyone.

Let's see what the script can be this time! Gold standard is always to try to get country against country and political party against party. Maybe one of the true classics: Reptilian-esque western blood-thirsty military aggressors, plotting to pick on the poor hard working victims of intense constant capitalist exploitation (one of my personal favorites).

North Korea's leadership constantly flips between comedy and tragedy, with frequent sidetrips into sad, pathetic, melancholy and mediocrity.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

I want the U.S. or S.Korea to shoot one of these down when they go off.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The US doesn't care as long as it has enough ranges for Tokyo but not Guam or US mainland.

North Korea's ballistic missile range has gradually increased over the years. In November 2017, it test-fired the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which has an estimated range of 12,874km (8,000 miles) and can reach anywhere in the continental US.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/16/infographic-missile-programmes-north-korea-v-south-korea-interactive

5 ( +7 / -2 )

That money could have better been spent feeding their emaciated population.

Honestly, we all know NK is harmless. The world is waiting to pounce on them as soon as they hurt 1 person. It will be game over for the country in 1 day. And they know it.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

What exactly are the North Koreans trying to achieve?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@Slickdrifter

That is actually VERY hard to do. Most ICBMs have multiple warheads that makes targeting them on re-entry extremely difficult. Mid-course interception negates that problem, but you need to be able to predict the trajectory of an extremely fast missile, and then have missile defenses already along that route that can intercept it fast enough.

Your best window is during the early stages of launch before it reaches speed, but obviously then you need to have prior knowledge of the launch.

It can be done, but it doesn't have anywhere close to guaranteed chances. I think missile defense tests are overall around 50-60% accuracy over the last several years?

Attempting and failing would be a really bad look for the country trying to do so, and a pretty big victory for the launching country with no extra effort.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

There is little doubt QUAD would level that little nation

QUAD what??

Are they a kind of Space Marines force from Warhammer?

The world knows only NATO as a strong and robust institution.

You keep talking about this Quad that can smash China,Russia and everyone against Japan.

Not going to happen.

Check the highest military powers in the world and besides Russia and China the Sates and Western European countries dictate.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Do we need to brace for the Korean War II ?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

What exactly are the North Koreans trying to achieve?

Kim Dynasty as a nuclear power rule the entire peninsula

3 ( +5 / -2 )

QUAD is not yet a military alliance. Australia will not defend India if it is attacked without a signed military alliance in place. As Japan must first contend with it's article 9, it is unable to sign reciprocal military alliances at this point. Japan has an alliance with the US?. The US and Australia have ANZUS and AUKUS agreements. India has no military alliance with any of the QUAD members that I am aware of.

QUAD would have a virtual conference in the event of an attack anywhere in the region but that is no guarantee of taking military action.

IF, and it is a big if, the QUAD does become a signed alliance they would command a combined force able to deal with whatever comes up in the region, including China.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Like all, I condemn this launch, but I am sure it was done “whilst taking sensible precautions” as we are regularly advised.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The North Koreans keep hitting the sea.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Then perhaps, that part if “okay” ?? - Don’t Japanese authorities keep reassuring everyone that releasing radioactive contaminants into the surrounding seawater is perfectly “safe” ?? /s

*- *@Stephen 4:22pm: “The North Koreans keep hitting the sea.” -

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Stop the madness.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Right on time...is LDP giving Kim some envelopes under the table to shoot a missile every time Japan has an election to bring the "safe choice " LDP votes in? Geez.

I am amazed that, yes, I have ever responded to this poster genuinely

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The (NV)DPRK must surely have a role for good in the world. I would like to believe that.

PS NV = not very

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Perfect Time for South Korea to go after Mitsubishi.

While Japan is focus on North Korea missiles.

South Korea wants compensation. Wants apologies. Give us more Japan. Remember the alliance. Play nice and give South Korea all its demands as always.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

At this point nobody actually care even if they launch thousand of missiles every day into the sea. Most of us just find it hilarious and a waste of money. Is not even news anymore.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@snowymountainhell

Don’t Japanese authorities keep reassuring everyone that releasing radioactive contaminants into the surrounding seawater is perfectly “safe” ??

Sadly, Korea has just been elected as the chair nation of the IAEA, so Korea's going to play a hardball with Japan on release of Fukushima radioactive waters.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

1) The US doesn't care as long as the missiles don't have the range to reach US territories. Short-range NK missiles have tacit US approval, at least the US willing to look the other way.

Why do you say such things? The US has huge forces in South Korea and Japan within range of those missiles. Americans live among the people of both nations, out in town, shopping in local stores, renting from local land lords, buying furniture and appliances there, etc. It is not as if the US is in a little protected bubble. If DPRK attacks South Korea or Japan a lot of American blood will spill. The US doesn't retaliate against the DPRK or try to take out their nuclear weapons exactly because the toll on the South Korean civilian population would be too great to contemplate. US forces are there to protect the South Koreans, not get them all killed. You really hate Americans don't you?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

At this point nobody actually care even if they launch thousand of missiles every day into the sea. Most of us just find it hilarious and a waste of money. Is not even news anymore.

Military analysts will study each of those launches in detail to see if any new capabilities were demonstrated. Believe it or not the DPRK does test new ideas during these launches and is always trying in their North Korean way to improve their weapons. And they do believe it or not. It is slow for them because they are resource constrained but they do make slow steady advances.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

When considering NorK leadership and their readily apparent aberrant behavior, we would all be best to remember the conclusions of the United Nations' Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea only eight years ago:

The commission finds that systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In many instances, the violations found entailed crimes against humanity based on State policies. The main perpetrators are officials of the State Security Department, the Ministry of People’s Security, the Korean People’s Army, the Office of the Public Prosecutor, the judiciary and the Workers’ Party of Korea, who are acting under the effective control of the central organs of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the National Defence Commission and the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Powerful.

Regarding women in the DPRK:

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea into or within China for the purposes of exploitation in forced marriage or concubinage, or prostitution under coercive circumstances. An estimated 20,000 children born to women from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are currently in China. These children are deprived of their rights to birth registration, nationality, education and health care because their birth cannot be registered without exposing the mother to the risk of refoulement by China.

and

Women abducted from Europe, the Middle East and Asia were subjected to forced marriages with men from other countries to prevent liaisons on their part with ethnic Korean women that could result in interracial children. Some of the abducted women have also been subject to sexual exploitation.

and

Discrimination against women remains pervasive in all aspects of society. Indeed, it might even be increasing, as the male-dominated State preys on both economically advancing women and marginalized women. Many women, survival-driven during the famine of the 1990s, began operating private markets. The State imposed, however, many restrictions on female-dominated markets. Gender discrimination also takes the form of women being targeted to pay bribes or fines. There is recent evidence that women are beginning to object and to resist such impositions.

The economic advances of women have not been matched by advances in the social and political spheres. Entrenched traditional patriarchal attitudes and violence against women persist in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The State has imposed blatantly discriminatory restrictions on women in an attempt to maintain the gender stereotype of the pure and innocent Korean woman. Sexual and gender-based violence against women is prevalent throughout all areas of society. Victims are not afforded protection from the State, support services or recourse to justice.

The full report and supporting documentation are a sweeping indictment of NorK's leadership. Facts that even the most rabid Internet "influencer" cannot erase. Small wonder their leaders worry about the future; particularly if and when they finally are placed on the scales of Justice.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/coidprk/pages/commissioninquiryonhrindprk.aspx

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Then perhaps, that part if “okay” ?? - Don’t Japanese authorities keep reassuring everyone that releasing radioactive contaminants into the surrounding seawater is perfectly “safe” ?? /s

The Japanese are releasing water containing tritium into the ocean. Tritium is naturally occurring in all oceans. It is formed in the outer atmosphere in a reaction with sunlight and is absorbed from the air by seawater. You are breathing a minute amount of tritium this very instant. Does that scare you? It's a natural part of our environment. The amount of tritium that Japan will release is a vanishingly small fraction of the amount of naturally occurring tritium in seawater. It is a non problem being conflated into this ridiculous crisis by a lack of knowledge of our physical world.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Was this the works of the little fat man Alfalfa look alike sister?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

More surprising is that North Korean missile tests still become a headline in Japanese media.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

bad sea, bad

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

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